NCAA better cut their legal losses, soon

If you care about college sports, from any perspective, pay close attention to what's been happening out in the Midwest, where a National Labor Relations Board official has ruled that Northwestern's football players have the right to unionize. If that holds up through the appeals process, the decision has the potential to change the face of college sports in dramatic ways.

How? The short answer is that players in the revenue-generating sports of football and basketball may start getting paid to perform for their schools, beyond their scholarship compensation. The long answer is more complicated, but it all circles back to that basic concept. Players will be considered more as employees of the school than student-athletes - that was the basis of the NLRB ruling - and that means they have a right to fight for a slice of the revenue pie that their efforts help produce.

The NCAA, which rules over college sports with self-serving rules designed to enforce an antiquated interpretation of amateurism, has a big problem on its hands, and not just from the Northwestern case. Another lawsuit that threatens to topple the NCAA's worldview is a class-action suit brought by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon and joined by many other athletes. Plaintiffs in that case argue college players deserve compensation for their names and likenesses being used to help sell merchandise.

Again, it goes back to money and what college athletes have a right to claim for themselves.

For now, the NLRB ruling is limited to Northwestern, pending the appeals. But the precedent will certainly spread to other schools if the ruling is upheld. Only private schools are encompassed by the decision; public schools must deal with individual state boards and regulations. But it won't take long for those public schools to get involved either.

This is great news for the affected players, and alarming for most everyone else. Schools fear shrinking bottom lines, so does that mean hacking away at the smaller, non-revenue generating sports to make up the difference? How will schools compete with each other if they have to recruit players with more than scholarships, but with broader financial packages? If teams can unionize to negotiate working conditions, what does that mean? No more two-a-days or they're walking out?

The NCAA won't be able to hold back this tide and school leaders only have themselves to blame. As bigger and bigger money has rolled in, they've wanted to keep more and more of it for themselves, the coaches and athletic directors - but not for the players. The legal challenges were inevitable, and a long, long time in coming. If schools don't capitulate now, they're going to have an enormous mess on their hands.

The NCAA won't win this fight, and it shouldn't try any longer. At Northwestern, players say they don't want to be paid, and most athletes aren't going to want to tear apart a system that's been good to them. But with schools raking in billions from their football and basketball programs, it's more than fair to suggest that the players themselves deserve a little more than they're getting, both in terms of financial compensation and employee protections. It's time to make a deal.

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NCAA better cut their legal losses, soon

If you care about college sports, from any perspective, pay close attention to what's been happening out in the Midwest, where a National Labor Relations Board official has ruled that Northwestern's

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